“ T. fuscatus is the most-common Thrush in the country of the Amour, where it is to be seen in large
bands in autumn. The first I saw, probably on their way from the north, were met with on the
12th of September at the village of Belgou, near the mouth of the Gorin. In 1854 I observed some
at the Nikola'iewsk Post between the 1st and the 26th o f October, between which dates considerable
flocks were making a great uproar on the larches at the edge of the forests growing along the
course of the river and its little tributaries, the Karm, Litscha, and Patscha. At the end of this
period solitary individuals were mostly observed, and the last were noticed on the 26th. M. Maxi-
mowicz has also killed a bird at the Marinsk Post on the 25th of October. On the 26th of September
I obtained from M. Maack a specimen from the Boureia Mountains.”
Przewalski observed the first arrivals in spring on Lake Khanka on the 24th of April in 1868,
and on the 21st of April in 1869.
Nikolski gives the following note:—“ I f this species nests at all in Sakhalin, it is probably only
in the northern parts of the island. During my stay in the central part I never met with the bird
in summer, and Poljakow collected his specimens during the spring and autumn migrations, both on
the east and west sides of the island. In the notes found after his death he states that he often met
with the species in the first half of June in the valley of the river Sousoi: it made its appearance
in the island at the end of the spring, and was seen in the autumn when the snow commenced.
On the 15th of October [O. S.], when he obtained one specimen, the temperature was considerably
below zero, the trees and bushes were all turned yellow, and some of them were bare of leaves.
MM. Dobrotworski and Mitsoul indicate this Ouzel as being very common in the south of the
island, but do not state whether it nests or is only a bird of passage.”
In the Seebohm Collection is a fine series of this Ouzel obtained by the brothers Doerries at the
mouth of the Amur River between October and April, as well as one specimen of Dybowski’s from
Sidemi in Ussuriland.
MiddendorfF did not meet with the present species on the Stanovoi Mountains, bnt he says that
he shot some specimens on the Yenesei above 59° N. lat. in the coldest part of the winter (Reis.
Sibir., Zool. ii. p. 172, 1851). On the latter river Seebohm says that it was the first Thrush to arrive
at the Arctic Circle, small parties coming in on the 4th of June. He writes (Ibis, 1879, p. 3):—
“ They were to be found feeding on the steep banks where the sun had melted the snow. Their
call-note reminded me of that of the Redwing. During the next week they were very plentiful, and
I began anxiously to look out for their nests; but within a fortnight of their arrival they had all
disappeared, and I saw no more of them until the 12th of July, during our voyage down the river.
On this day we cast anchor for a few hours in lat. 69°, and I went on shore to explore for the first
time a Siberian tundra. I climbed up the steep bank, and found myself in a wild desolate-looking
country, full of lakes, swamps, and rivers, in some places a dead flat, in others undulating, and even
hilly, brilliant with gay flowers, swarming with mosquitoes,’and full of birds. In sheltered places
dwarf willows and creeping-birches were growing, and (because we were only some fifty versts from
the forests) here and there a few stunted larches. Winding through the tundra was the bed of a
river, now nothing but a small deep valley, forming a chain of isolated lakes and pools. This
river-bed bears the name of the dried-up Doo-dinVka, and is about fifty versts to the north-west of
the real river Doo-dinf-ka. On some of the northern slopes large patches of snow were still lying
Most of the birds evidently had young. I found myself generally the centre of attraction of a little
crowd of birds uttering their various alarm-notes as they flew round or waited on some shrub or
plant with their bills full of mosquitoes, anxious to feed their young as soon as I was out of their
way. As I was returning to the shore, and descending a steep sloping bank covered with patches
of dwarf birch and willow, overlooking a flat willow-swamp which evidently once formed a little
delta at the mouth of the dried-up Doo-din'-ka, my attention was attracted by a pair of Dusky
Thrushes loudly proclaiming the vicinity of their nest. I shot one of them, - and, after a diligent
search of half an hour, found the nest in the fork of a willow bush level with the ground. I t was
exactly like the nest of a Fieldfare, lined with dried grass, and contained, alas ! five young birds
about a week old.
“ At noon we weighed anchor; but at midnight it was blowing such a stiff gale that, we were
afraid to round the ‘ broad nose ’ of Tol-stan-os' in the c Ibis ’ ; so we cast anchor under the lee of
the mud cliffs of the Yen-e-say', and I again went on shore. In some places the cliffs were very
steep, and were naked mud or clay. In others the slope was more gradual, and was covered with
mud and alder bushes. Among these bushes I found the Dusky Thrush again breeding, but was only
able to find one nest with five nearly fledged young. The nest was placed, as before, in the fork of
a willow, level with the ground. This was the last time that I saw this species of Thrush.”
Mr. H. L. Popham, during his second expedition to the Yenesei in 1895, obtained several nests
of this Ouzel, which he found further north than the Redwing or the Fieldfare, occurring even
beyond the limit of the forest-growth (Ibis, 1897, p. 92). On this third journey, he says that the
Dusky Thrush was not seen at Yeneseisk, but was most numerous at Doodinka (lat. 69^° N.), where
the forest comes to an end ; and here he found five nests, one of them with seven eggs. The birds
were very demonstrative when their nest was approached, but when once it was found they were very
shy, and it became difficult to get anything but a long shot at them (Ibis, 1898, p. 493). As will be
noticed above, Seebohm was only able to meet with nests containing young birds, but he was thus
enabled to discover the nesting-home of the species, and Mr. Popham was apparently the first to
bring home authentic eggs. Mr. Kibort, who collected for Mr. Seebohm at Krasnoyarsk, sent
full-grown young birds, but no eggs from that locality.
On the river Ob, Dr. Finsch obtained a specimen at Bolschoi Ustram, on the 11th of September,
1878 (Verb. z.-b. Ges. Wien, 1879, p.. 71).
Returning to the eastward range of the species, we find that it is only a rare straggler to
Kamtschatka, according to Dr. Stejneger, who met with a small flock near Petropaulski on the 15 th
of May, 1883. He also procured a specimen on Bering Island between the sand-dunes opposite the
village on the 3rd of June, 1883 (Rep. Om. Expl. Comm. Tsl. p. 307, 1885). In Korea, Kalinowski
only noticed it on migration {cf. Tacz. P. Z. S. 1888, p. 463).
In his work on the ‘ Birds of the Japanese Empire,’ Seebohm gives the following account of the
species :—“ The Dusky Ouzel is a winter visitor to Japan, arriving from the north in great numbers.
A few remain to winter in the northern island, but most of them pass onwards, and winter in
the more southerly islands. They are very common in winter near Tokio and Yokohama, whence
there are nine examples in the Pryer Collection. I t also occurs near Nagasaki (Blakiston and Pryer,
Trans. As. Soc. Japan, 1882, p. 167), whence examples have been sent by Mr. Ringer to the
Norwich Museum, and whence those erroneously recorded 'as T. naumanni in the report of the
Siebold expedition were probably obtained (Temminck and Schlegel, * Fauna Japonica,’ Aves, p. 61).
One of these examples was figured in 1831 under the name of T. eunomus (Temminck, Planches
Coloriées, no. 514).”
Mr. P. A. Holst procured specimens on Tsu-shima, the Twin Islands, in January and April ; it
is a winter visitor to these islands (Seebohm, Ibis, 1892, p. 88).
I t appears to migrate through Manchuria and Mongolia to China and India. Przewalski
writes (in Rowley’s ‘ Ornithological Miscellany,’ ii. p. 196, 1877) :—“ We met with a flock of Turdus
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